Hong Kong and the rest of Asia moves towards the "third place"

In Hong Kong, gone are the days when we were chained to our desk from 9 to 5. How we work is changing. The idea of a “Third Place,” a space that’s neither home nor office but where people want to spend a portion of their lives, was introduced as far back as 1989 in Ray Oldenburg’s book “The Great Good Place.”

Today, thanks to the advent of wireless technology, the concept has evolved from being merely from a civic or entertainment space and now also applies to a flexible work space for mobile employees.

So what does this mean for businesses? According to Kyran Sze, executive director of architecture firm Aedas, the push towards Third Places is gathering pace in Asia.

“It’s a free space that you can corner for a certain period of time, where business activities can be carried out, and you share common facilities with others as well. It’s a fluid space where people can come in and out.”

A report issued this year by the technology market research company IDC suggests that Asia will see the biggest increase in mobile workers over the next two years.

By 2013, 1.2 billion people, one-third of the world’s total work force, will be mobile workers, the company finds, and 62% of them will be based in Asia.

The social and professional benefits are clear for workers.

Third Places are more flexible than offices. They are closer to home, meaning less commute time and a lower environmental burden. People find themselves more able to set their work schedule to suit them, with Third Places also tailor made for the needs of a work force that’s increasingly free-lance and free-form.

Managing employees may seem like the most serious challenge that would prevent this flexible approach to work. But provided appropriate measures are put in place to reward productivity and efficiency, this can be overcome.

“If you get it right it is tremendously empowering,” Paul Scroggie the director of workplace management services at the Hong Kong office of Knight Frank, says. “Basically what you are saying is I trust you, go and work where you need to, when you need to.”

To embrace flexible working successfully, companies also have to shift their focus towards measuring productivity – instead of simply profitability. Those that do so and adequately prepare for a flexible work force in Asia now will be at the forefront of the mobile work movement, and able to capitalise on the region’s shift from a manufacturing base to an increased focus on service industries.

“The thing these days is that he notion of work can be separated from the notion of the office,” Susan Lim of workplace consultancy DEGW says. “Work used to be a place that you went to. Now work is a thing you do, not necessarily a place.”

In cities such as Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Mumbai, which boast some of the world’s highest rents, there are substantial cost savings from shedding permanent office leases. Other Asian capitals, clogged with traffic, call for more flexible working arrangements to save time.

In Beijing for example, Nokia have chosen to forgo costly and ineffective sales and marketing offices, and instead use Regus’ network of eight business centers across the city as their Third Place.

Their on-the-road workforce can touch down at a Regus Business Lounge, take a day-office or use a meeting space if necessary, saving the company a significant investment in real estate.

However, business case aside the fundamental driver behind the Third Place is that, freed by technology to do their jobs where they want, people demand them.